1. Field
This application relates to the electronic presentation of news, advertising, and informational content, where the written content is integrated and synchronized in a distinct manner with other forms of multimedia content.
2. Prior Art
Readers of news stories and other informational content have benefited from technological advancements in the presentation of articles in print and especially in the presentation of articles via computer-implemented methods and computer program products.
In print, and for news content in particular, the inverted pyramid structure of journalism has remained the mainstay since the 19th century. In fact, one of the first inverted pyramid stories was purportedly an Associated Press story drafted in 1865 to report the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Although often considered outdated, the inverted pyramid remains the principal format for stories published by such dominant news organizations as The Associated Press and Reuters. In simple terms, the inverted pyramid structure requires expressing first the key issue of a news story or other informational article, followed by supplementary information of lesser significance and lesser interest so that inverted pyramid stories often conclude anticlimactically by describing detailed minutiae or background information. Most often, the inverted pyramid story is published alone or with an accompanying static photograph.
At the same time, the intermittent use of “alternative story formats” in print journalism in recent decades has served to enhance the appeal of news content in newspapers and magazines by incorporating visuals that aide a user's comprehension and enjoyment of a given story. News content based on the “alternative story format” innovation often incorporates charts, graphs, colorful designs, bulleted points, and other similar features.
Electronically, the presentation of news and other informational content has changed far more dramatically and quickly. Internet aggregators such as Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft's Bing, as well as online publishers such as WashingtonPost.com and The WallStreetJournal.com, are now able to present hyperlinked titles of news stories and informational articles that users can click-on or otherwise select to review an entire news story or other piece of content in an electronic display. Some aggregators, such as Yahoo, have leads that pop-up when the user's cursor hovers over a particular story's headline, helping the user to determine whether to skip that story or click on the hyperlink to review the content in depth. Similarly, publishers and aggregators have integrated multimedia content into their electronic presentations of news and other content, whereby digital photographs, video, and audio are mixed with the written content and whereby users can click to review a slideshow of digitized photos related to any given piece of content, whether it's news related or a “how to” informational article.
The current leading online newspaper for interactive innovations is likely The New York Times. Their online newspaper offers several cutting-edge, interactive news presentations and The Times has won multiple awards for their interactive efforts. Their interactive news presentations, however, are heavily focused on graphics, rather than on written articles that incorporate multimedia in the manners described in this patent application featuring “synchronized news stories” and “synchronized informational articles.”
Furthermore, the digital age has led to a blurring of the boundaries between newspapers, television, and other media. In recent decades, broadcast, cable, and satellite television had merely allowed the user to watch broadcasts with simple text overlays that serve to clarify the images portrayed in the video presentations. More recently, however, the Internet has led to a commingling of content in new ways. Video, graphics, and text are able to be integrated so that, for example, a user can read a CNN article on the Internet, then click on a nearby, related video clip, and then click again to review an audio segment that further expands that same written article.
Yet, no other news articles or informational articles have been found that combine written content with other forms of media in the manner described in the embodiments contained within this patent application. The closest electronic news concept uncovered in published media pertains to displays of photographic slide shows on CNN and other news websites; in those examples, the reader clicks the next arrow to see a new photo and to read the accompanying captions. But the “synchronized articles” embodiments taught herein are not primarily about displaying small, isolated captions of text—most of the embodiments contained herein focus on uniquely matching visual and other media to the main text of a given news story or similar news content.
On a different note, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office reveals other prior art innovations that have been created to further innovate the electronic creation and display of content.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,610,358 (2009), Benschoter teaches how to present electronic media content, primarily video content, that is retrieved from a database. Benschoter's method, assigned to Time-Warner Cable, seeks to separate news content into headlines, summaries, and full text or video, allowing the user to incrementally determine whether to move forward with reviewing a particular news story or other content. It is not intended to focus on synchronizing written content with other forms of multimedia in the manner taught herein.
A patent application by Stuckman (2007/0198655) helps users to navigate in a linear manner from one website to another website. Stuckman's approach differs in that it's not focused on news stories, news commentaries, or other articles, but rather on creating a way for users to move quickly from one web site to another.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,193 issued to Covington is titled “Interactive Multimedia Annotation Method and Apparatus.” Covington allows a reader of a text story to view or bypass multimedia by manually selecting a highlighted link. In Covington's patent, the reader has to decide to select each text link separately in order to show the next photo, video, etc., rather than having these multimedia elements, or a majority of these elements, stream automatically as the user reviews a particular article. Covington's purpose is to allow the “annotating [of] a text document” by authors in a quick manner and to then give readers the ability to choose or bypass accessing various presentations of multimedia. The multimedia selected then appears in pop-up windows overlaying the text. In addition, this Covington patent has extra steps along with other elements that make it different from the embodiments taught herein.
A patent application by Freeman (2004/0175095) synchronizes images and audio narratives to a written text. This audio-oriented concept is meant for full-length books on-tape, which differs from the embodiments described herein.
A patent application by Allen (2004/0078814) intends to provide a customized ticker for televisions. This intriguing multimedia application by Paul G. Allen, a founder of Microsoft, allows the user to customize ticker data within a television broadcast, utilizing multiple displays to present tickers while continuing to watch a sports broadcast, for example.
A patent application by Jewsbury of Microsoft Corporation (2007/0006079) focuses on identifying a “state change in a structured representation of a declarative markup language document” to trigger the playing of a component of an interactive multimedia presentation.
A patent application by Saiga (2004/0080541) seems to enable electronic books to incorporate a timed presentation of information.
A patent application by Saccocci (2009/0191531) seems confusing, but appears to want to combine a printed book or periodical with stimulation coming from an audio-visual product (such as a stereo or a TV or a computer). Saccocci's key approach is to have the reader hold the physical book in hand and then present sound effects or visual effects as the reader reads a page from that traditional book.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,248, Iggulden seeks to augment a printed book with computerized multimedia content. The physical book contains printed visual cues, and the reader may manually access “indicia” on a computer corresponding with those visual cues to play supplementary audio or other multimedia content.
A patent application by Cohen (2003/0059758) similarly seeks to integrate a printed book with “associated interactive electronic data,” with the book likewise containing “indicia” to help the user access corresponding electronic data.
A patent application by Harshman (2006/0286528) focuses on an “interactive multimedia reading method.” As with Iggulden and Cohen, Harshman seeks to have the user read a printed book, text, or manual. Coding buried within the printed text then allows the user the option to access related movie or other video segments “on demand.” Harshman's patent application's legal claims section seem to focus almost entirely on readers of conventional, printed books; in this regard, electronically reproduced documents are mentioned once in the entire application, and is excluded from the claims. Most importantly, as with Covington, Harshman requires the reader to decide to select each particular text link to show the next video segment, rather than having these multimedia elements, or a majority of these elements, stream automatically as the user reviews the book. With Harshman, the reader has to choose each time to “actuate a code or icon and the like” to access each particular video “on demand” segment. In another part of his application, Harshman discusses “pointing and clicking” to access each video on demand. The reason for this approach is that Harshman is offering the user of a book the opportunity to further augment their reading of a book with video segments whenever the reader feels a need. Additionally, although Harshman claims a broad variety of printed and written material, his patent application does not refer to “news” or “news stories.” Next, while Harshman indicates that the printed materials can be “financial reports . . . charts, and graphs,” he never suggests that the multimedia materials can be charts or photographs or graphics; his teaching focuses solely on movies or videos. In contrast, multimedia depictions of stock charts, financial pie charts, and similar graphics are essential to the original embodiments described herein that pertain to financial news content. In turn, the incorporation of photographs and graphics is a key feature of other embodiments depicted herein.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,114,170, Harris teaches a “Method and Apparatus for Providing Interactive Media Presentation.” Harris combines presenting interactive and non-interactive photos, videos, and other media to a user over a computer in combination with a stored “user profile.” Harris's patent claims seem unclear, but it appears that this patent is intended to prompt the user to watch a non-interactive video and to then make interactive selections based on the information presented in that non-interactive video. The user's choices are then coupled with information stored in their “user profile,” which then jointly leads to the presentation of follow-up information. It should be noted that Harris's visually-oriented media patent is not focused on news content; instead, it's mostly related to shopping. Nor is Harris's patent related to articles that have a text orientation; as such, Harris does not intend to change the graphics in his presentation as the user reads or scrolls down a block of text, as is taught in the “synchronized news stories” and “synchronized informational articles” patent application herein. Moreover, whereas Harris's patent is completely dependent upon user profiles, implementing user profiles is an element of only certain embodiments described herein.
Relating to scrolled content, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,067,069, Krause teaches a helpful method of scrolling text at variable speeds by attending to the user's eye or head movements.
In turn, a patent application by Lin-Hendel (2008/0109750) teaches an automatic scrolling method via the use of a highly-flexible electronic scrolling tool.
3. Additional Prior Art Uncovered in Academia
Additional research has been uncovered pertaining to unique news presentations and hypermedia theories propounded by advanced academic researchers in the U.S., Latin America, and Europe.
In the September 1997 edition of Journalism and Mass Communications, Professor Eric Fredin published a monograph entitled, “Rethinking the News Story for the Internet: Hyperstory Prototypes and a Model of the User.” At the time of authorship, Fredin was an associate professor in the school of journalism at Ohio State University. In his monograph, Fredin proposed several concepts for creating non-linear news stories. Yet Fredin's focus was to have a “main story” presented sequentially, while displaying “related files” in a separate window. A different set of related files corresponds to individual portions of the displayed main news story. Differing from the embodiments described herein, Fredin's goal was to allow a reader to see headlines of other news stories that relate to specific portions of a given “main story,” and to also allow each of those related stories to become the new “main story” with its own set of related headlines. Fredin's goal was to allow readers to shift from one news story to another news story in a fluid manner, rather than to completely transform the inner workings of a news story or other informational articles.
In 1999 Assistant Professor Robert Huesca of Trinity University and Professor Brenda Dervin of Ohio State University presented an intriguing and helpful paper at the “Media in Transition Conference” at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The paper was entitled, “Hypertext and Journalism: Audiences Respond to Competing News Narratives.” The paper was based on a previous experiment in which these researchers had “selected existing news stories and redesigned them ourselves using basic principles of hypertext.” Huesca and Dervin took traditional news stories from the Los Angeles Times and configured them for presentation so that the “redesigned versions contained no new material; rather, they were simply broken into thematic parts that had to be activated by clicking on links running along the left side of the computer screen . . . Aside from slight changes in transitional phrases, the hypertext content was identical to the original article; only the form was altered—from a unified, linear story versus a non-sequential narrative with reader controlled links.” Huesca and Dervin's experiment focused on non-linear presentations of news content. Their method differed widely from the embodiments described in this patent application, in large part because the professors' methods do not offer stories which progress linearly through the precise synchronizing of written content with other forms of media.
Similar to the research presented by Huesca and Dervin at MIT, Wilson Lowrey published an interesting research paper in the Spring 2004 edition of the Newspaper Research Journal. The research paper was entitled, “More Control, but not Clarity in Non-Linear Web Stories.” Lowrey also discussed and compared a similar approach in another paper, “The Applicability of Cognitive Flexibility Theory to the Production of Hypermedia News Stories.” This latter research paper was presented by Lowrey in New Orleans on May 27, 2004 at an annual conference hosted by the International Communication Association. Lowrey is an associate professor of journalism in the College of Communication and Information Sciences at The University of Alabama. In “More Control, but not Clarity in Non-Linear Web Stories,” Lowrey describes the creation of a non-linear news story where “the non-linear story was segmented into four different topics and was overlaid with a navigational scheme. Links to each of the four topics were available in a vertical frame on the left side of each page.” Like Huesca and Dervin, Lowrey appears to permit the user to skip from one news story portion to another portion in any sequence desired. Also like Huesca and Dervin, Lowrey's methods do not offer stories which progress linearly based on the “synchronized news stories” computer-implemented methods and computer program products taught herein.
In a 2008 edition of New Media and Society, Mark Tremayne, Assistant Professor of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, published an article about an unusual hypertext prototype he developed. The article was entitled: “Manipulating Interactivity with Thematically Hyperlinked News Texts: a media learning experiment.” Tremayne stated his prototype is not “a purely non-linear one” as is taught herein; instead he focused on a “hierarchical hypertext” that contained multiple layers of portions which could only be accessed via a specific manner. Tremayne's prototype is also distinct from that described herein.
Finally, João Canavilhas of Universidade da Beira Interior in Portugal presented a helpful research piece at the International Symposium of Online Journalism in 2008 at the University of Texas at Austin. The symposium is sponsored in part by the Knight Center for Journalism and UNESCO. Canavilhas's article is entitled “Hypertext Newswriting Effects on Satisfaction, Comprehension and Attitudes.” Canavilhas's prototype for a non-linear news story includes the initial presentation of a news story title coupled with its lead. Contained within this lead are links the user may select to navigate to other portions of the news story. Canavilhas's method of navigation and presentation differs from the embodiments described herein. As just one example, Canavilhas embeds his hyperlinks in various places of the lead itself (to encourage non-linear reading) rather than in the main text or in another manner that lends itself to a linear presentation of the news story. Also, and as with the other prior art examples, Canavilhas's approach doesn't allow the reader to synchronize written content with other forms of media in the streaming method and product taught herein.
A surprisingly large volume of additional research has been undertaken on this subject, and the Association for Computerized Machinery has even formed a special interest group dedicated to the research of “hypertext, hypermedia, and the web.” This special interest group sponsors annual conferences where university professors from across the globe publish and discuss academic research on advanced methods of presenting news content. Yet, despite the sizable volume of research and experiments undertaken, the inventor has not encountered models that specify the embodiments detailed in this application's appended claims.